Risen 2 on Xbox 360 review

ROLE PLAYING GAME (RPG) Risen 2 follows on from the original game, seeing you once again take the role of a nameless hero waging war against the Titans, though this time adding a nautical setting to the mix.

The game is set in a world where humanity is on the verge of extinction, having been plagued and hunted by the Sea Titans for many years. In this world there's only one human city left, with the rest of the general populace living in small communes on various islands or taking to the seas as pirates.

The game sees you take the role of an unnamed officer in the Inquisition, the closest thing Risen 2's world has to an army. Opening to our hero sitting getting drunk in his office at the Inquisition's base, things kick off when a beautiful pirate maiden washes ashore during a shipwreck claiming her father, the notorious pirate Steel Beard, has a way to find a weapon capable of killing Mara, the queen of the Sea Titans.

Following her appearance you're sent on a secret mission by your superiors to infiltrate Steel Beard's ranks and find the mysterious weapon. Once into the action the game follows a fairly formulaic pattern, seeing you hop from tropical island to tropical island searching for the weapon.

Each island location is fairly similar looking with the same seafaring, tropical jungle motif, full of colourful characters and settlements each containing their own sub-quests. Risen 2 also has a swift travel option that lets you quickly jump from location to location just by clicking on it in the game's map screen.

Risen 2 environments are fairly similar throughout the game, with each tropical island holding the same jungle textures, shanty town pirate structures and Aztec ruins. The one thing that keeps the game interesting is its varied and entertaining cast. Its cast contains everything from alcoholic, lecherous pirates to island-of-doom-like locals to maritime themed gentlemen.

The cast all have their own dialogue options that manage to stay entertaining without overdoing the game's pirate theme. Doing everything from singing dirty sea shanties to spouting insults that would make the saltiest of sailors blush, we have to say we were really impressed by Risen 2 dialogue.

This is a good thing, as a central feature of the game is interacting with the world's inhabitants and recruiting members to your crew. In Risen 2, most quests will see you take a companion or two along with you. Though the number of characters you can take with you is limited, the game does a decent job of making them memorable, giving you an incentive to enter into dialogue with them and make the most of the game's superb script.